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Guardian

Guardian

Science

Science

Publisher reviews national IQ research by British ‘race scientist’ Richard Lynn

Guardian
Summary
Nutrition label

85% Informative

Prof Richard Lynn argued western civilisation was threatened by genetically inferior ethnic groups.

His national IQ’ dataset purports to show wide variations in IQ between different countries.

Academics who have evaluated his papers allege that Lynn , who died last year , systematically biased data to produce implausibly low IQ scores for sub-Saharan nations.

Elsevier confirms it has ordered a review of Lynn ’s research published in its journals.

In 2024 , scientists including Sear called on journals to retract Lynn ’s papers, warning that his database was continuing to be cited despite having been discredited.

The citations are found in endorsements and critiques of Lynn , but also in papers not directly related to intelligence.

Others argue that calls for retraction risk playing into claims of censorship.

VR Score

88

Informative language

89

Neutral language

44

Article tone

semi-formal

Language

English

Language complexity

68

Offensive language

not offensive

Hate speech

not hateful

Attention-grabbing headline

not detected

Known propaganda techniques

not detected

Time-value

medium-lived

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